It was finally time to go.

Taemin and I got into my car. Taemin was holding his hands together, looking down at the floor. You could tell that the nervousness was taking over his body. He was shaking, but I couldn’t tell if it was from the cold rain or nerves. I am going to guess that it was a mixture of both.

We went to pick up Jonghyun and Onew before we finally made our way to the studio. We went in through the front door and into the main auditorium. We looked around for seats while Taemin looked around for a special face. We could tell by the sudden sadness in his eyes that his special person was missing.

Taemin walked up to the older boys. Onew and Taemin walked in front of us as I grabbed on to Jonghyun’s arm, pulling him back slightly.

“Have you heard from Minho? He told me that he was going to be here.”

“I’m sure that he will show up. He knows how important this is to Taemin, babe. He won’t let us down.”

“You’re right. I just am worried that he is going to let Taemin down, that is all.”

Jonghyun grabbed onto my waist and pulled me into a hug. We walked into the studio to see that Onew had already grabbed us some seats. Taemin was already backstage preparing for his entrance.

It has been fifteen minutes since the beginning of the dance competition and Minho had still not arrived. We all tried to call him multiple times. Taemin was peeking his head through the curtains, looking around for the boy he so desperately wanted to be there, but he couldn’t find him. He met my eyes.

“Where is Minho?” Taemin mouthed to me.

I shrugged my shoulders.

“And up next is Lee Taemin.”

Taemin walked out on the stage. We could all tell from our seats that he was upset. He looked as if his whole world was being shattered with each dance move that Minho was missing. Taemin had never messed up this dance before. He practiced every day for hours and he had perfected his routine, but tonight something just seemed off. He wasn’t keeping the rhythm of the music in sync with the rhythm of his body. From our seats, we could see the tears hitting the stage.

Three minutes later, Taemin bowed to the audience and the judges and returned to his place backstage. I left my seat and went to the back of the stage. Taemin was sitting on a couch with his legs pulled up to his chest, crying into his flexible limb.

“Taemin-ah,” I said with so much sadness in my voice. I was on the brink of tears myself watching my little brother becoming so depressed.

“Hyung.” Taemin looked up with tear-stained cheeks and puffy eyes. “He forgot. Why isn’t he here? He told me that he would be here. You said that he wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“I know. Something must have come up. You know that Minho would not just bail on you like this. I am sure that there is a good explanation for why he isn’t here. Do you try to call his phone?”

“Yes, multiple times! It just went straight to his voicemail. What if he didn’t show up because he doesn’t want to be with me anymore? What if he doesn’t love me anymore?”

“Taemin, that is enough. You know, just as well as I do, that Minho loves you more than anything. After we hear your score and we are done here, we will go find him and ask him ourselves. Okay?”

“Yes, hyung.”

I reached over and grabbed onto Taemin’s wrist and pulled him up from his seat on the couch.  I pulled him into a hug and placed my hand on the back of his head. Taemin nuzzled his head into my neck. I could feel the tears falling from his eyes onto my shirt. I am just glad that he couldn’t see the tears falling from my eyes as well.

I left Taemin behind the stage so that he could retrieve his scores. I took my seat back next to Jonghyun.

“Are you okay, baby?” Jonghyun asked, placing his hand on my leg.

“Do you think that something bad happened to Minho? You know that he would not have missed this for anything. He isn’t answering our calls or texts. I am just really worried and Taemin is too.”

“Key, I am sure that he is fine. I am sure that he just lost track of time at school and that he will be here soon. He probably doesn’t have his phone because he is still in school. Don’t worry about it. We will let him have it when we see him, but for now, we need to be here for Taemin, okay?” Jonghyun said, giving me a small kiss on my forehead. He always knew how to make me feel better, yet I still couldn’t help but have a hint of worry.

“And now for the winners.”

The three of us were holding our breaths as the names were called, hoping and praying that Taemin would win and that this would make Minho feel just a little bit worse that he missed out on something like this.

A/N: Thank you :)

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